Wow, things have been hectic lately! I can’t believe I’ve taken an (unintentional) break from blogging for the past five months; it seems like only yesterday when I posted pictures of my film premiere. In addition to immersing myself into a job as an academic advisor, I’ve officially become online associate faculty at Ashford University, where I teach English, Communication, Writing and Library Research.

Working two jobs isn’t easy, but I still try to stay involved with my writing. After its Hollywood premiere in April, Le Chapeau had its official festival premiere at Hollyshorts Film Festival in August. My latest short film, Dessert & Suicide, a comedy about blind dates, is now in post-production. Additionally, I am working on two novels (who knows if I’ll ever finish them), a short story, and have been chosen as one of the writers on Season 2 of an upcoming sci-fi web series, Look Up in the Sky. This is thanks to the amazing producing (and acting) talent of Ashley Cozine.

Earlier this month (was it really on April 4th?), I premiered my short film, Le Chapeau, at The Bungalow Club in Hollywood. It was a successful evening and the audience seemed to respond well to the film.

We were very excited about the turnout and anticipate a festival run for the film beginning this Summer.

When I first started this blog a year and a half ago, my goal was to inspire other writers by writing about writing and offering advice, tips and strategies. In the past few months, I’ve been incredibly busy with numerous projects, and saw my blog evolve into a sort of scrapbook about my own writing (and producing) life. I hope, by recounting my projects, I can convince even one person to follow their own writing path and strive to make their dreams a reality.

While I still have more advice to offer, they will come in due time. For now, I enjoy sharing my accomplishments, goals and fears with others and hope something can be taken away from my own experiences. It’s hard out there for a pimp writer, so it is important to set goals and work hard to achieve them, never doubting ourselves along the way. Seeing what other writers have accomplished certainly helps. As writers, we know that writing cannot be forced, no matter how often we’re told to write even if we don’t feel like it. In my opinion, a writer should never force something that isn’t there, but when the muse does strike, they need to embrace it.

Here’s some quick advice before I dedicate an entire blog (in the far future) to a specific aspect of writing: During the writing process, use every method possible to get your writing out there and share it with others. Criticism Feedback will do nothing but help improve what is already there. The world is a wealth of information and there are more resources out there than ever. Join a writer’s group and use the feedback to improve your work. You’ll come out a stronger writer and gain followers in the process.

And now, some news: Tonight, I prepare to premiere my short film, Le Chapeau, at the Bungalow Club in Hollywood. We’ve been editing since May, producing a website version and numerous different cuts of the project. It is finally done and ready to screen to the public in the pre-festival premiere. A creative work is always a long process, but sticking with it can be incredibly rewarding. Even when you feel like giving up, DON’T. You’ll kick yourself later and the pain just isn’t worth it.

There’s more exciting news to come about Le Chapeau and other projects, which I will share soon. Until then, here’s a quick clip of the film.

Just a quick note that I am scheduled to read passages from my short story, Lies My Mother Told Me: A Semi-True Story in 10 Parts, at the Far West Pop Culture Association Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. My reading will take place during the Creative Writing Panel on Sunday, March 12th between 9:00am-11am. The event takes place at the Palace Station Hotel.

After a few false starts and a couple of failed attempts, I began work on my first novel as part of National Novel Writing Month in November 2010. In no way did I complete the manuscript in a month’s time, as was the goal of the event, but I faced my fears about writing the novel and gave it a nice start.

The premise is a simple one and I’ve been wanting to write it for a few years now. I’d envisioned it in my head as a screenplay so delving into novel writing with the story was a nice and unexpected challenge. In my head, I’ve always called the story ‘Crazy Sue,’ no matter which method of writing I use to tell it. The plot is a fictionalized account of my last year as an undergraduate, living with a needy and unstable roommate my best friend and I would refer to as “Crazy.” The title was nailed into my head as being permanent, so imagine my surprise when said best friend suggested “One Year Lease” as a better option. I thought she loved the original title; we’d been referring to it as that for years so I was taken aback and hurt at the prospect of changing it. I decided to settle the matter the adult way and created a survey for this site asking my readers to choose the better title. Of course, I was sure ‘Crazy Sue’ would win, hands down, so I wasn’t worried. The title held a special place in my heart and there was no way I could sacrifice it. My readers would surely agree.

Turns out, I was wrong. The winner of the title survey was not my own, but my friend’s: One Year Lease. So, with resistance, I tried to refer to my novel with the new title. It was difficult at first, but now, it’s grown on me and I love it even more than I loved ‘Crazy Sue.’

The new title, I feel, will allow me to branch out and tell a different kind of story: a story of two friends trying to survive their final year of college, instead of focusing on their situation with a roommate from hell, which can serve as a subplot. The new title will allow me to tell the story I initially wanted to, without the reader having a preconceived notion of what ‘crazy’ means.

I’m excited to see where this novel takes me. I have so many I want to write. Let this be a fantastic start.

As some of you may know, I started work on my first novel as part of National Novel Writing Month in November 2010. While I did not meet the minimum word count, I managed to get a nice start on the manuscript.

The idea for this novel has been swimming around in my head for years and it’s always had the title ‘Crazy Sue: A Semi-true Novel.” The plot is a fictionalized account of my last year as an undergraduate, living with a needy and unstable roommate.

Despite already having settled on a title, my good friend suggested “One Year Lease” as an option. Now, I’m having trouble deciding which title would work best. Luckily, they both sum up the plot fairly well.

I created this poll, the first ever for my website, to help finalize a title for the novel. I added a third option just for fun. The winner will become the final title for the manuscript.